University of Oregon's Matthew Knight Arena put on fast track

TVA Architects Inc./The Associated PressThis image released by TVA Architects Inc., shows a conceptual design for the University of Oregon's US$200 million basketball arena to replace venerable McArthur Court. The design, unveiled Tuesday, Jan, 22, 2008, is not final, but part of the process.

Workers on the University of Oregon's $200million basketball arena are about to make Usain Bolt look like a tortoise.

With financing secure and opponents' land-use appeals all but exhausted, Oregon officials will break ground today on a dream turned glass-and-steel reality: Matthew Knight Arena. Yet for McArthur Court's replacement to open by January 2011, a web of workers, machinery and materials must move faster than a world-champion sprinter off the blocks.

Meanwhile, UO leaders must coax commitments from donors for the arena's high-end seating areas while the U.S. economy and Ducks men's basketball team perform parallel nosedives.

The good news is that the stagnant financial climate helps the project in some ways. The price of steel has dropped about 40percent since the earliest subcontract bids came in a few months ago, and the first big subcontractor on the job said his company bid 10percent to 15percent below what he would have a few years ago.

The project's challenge: Construction is on such a breakneck timeline that it has little room for error.

How breakneck? The building's shoring -- the digging and design of the giant hole from which the arena will rise -- has a deadline of 35 days.

"Six months maybe would be kind of a normal schedule," said Mike Zeman, president of Vancouver-based shoring company Scheffler Northwest. "Normally, you kind of do one thing and move through sequentially, and we're just going to have to overlap everything."

Oregon officials have said they need about 24 months to complete the arena. If all goes as planned and work crews hustle, it could be done by the 2011 Pacific-10 Conference tipoff -- in about 23 months.

With construction underway, UO officials are turning their attention to filling the arena. If Oregon sold out Knight Arena for a men's basketball season, it would make about $7.1million, including required annual donations, according to an analysis by The Oregonian using UO's posted ticket prices.

That's $2.8million less than a season sellout in the conservative ticket-price scenario outlined in 2007 by Conventions Sports and Leisure International. The university hired the firm to make revenue projections before UO secured $200million in state financing for the arena.

Jim Bartko, the UO athletic department official who has long been the point person on the project, did not respond to interview requests.

This season illustrates a worst-case scenario for men's basketball ticket sales. Oregon, 0-10 in conference play, is drawing 7,940 fans per game to 9,087-seat Mac Court. Knight Arena, with a capacity of 12,541, will have nearly 3,500 more seats to fill.

Oregon officials have said that the vastly superior amenities in the new arena will spur attendance. Knight Arena seats will be four inches wider, on average, than those at Mac Court, and the number of restrooms will mushroom from four to 22.

But the Ducks won't rely on ticket revenues and donations alone to pay the mortgage. Concessions and corporate sponsorships will boost revenue, and Oregon is building a considerable cushion as a backstop. Phil Knight's school-record-setting pledge of $100million in August 2007 turbo-charged the project, and more than $20million in pledges have come in since then, toward what officials hope will be a $150million legacy fund for the athletic department.

The goal is for proceeds from the legacy fund to help cover debt-service payments for the arena, which will be $16million annually, not including an adjacent parking structure.

More good news awaits. On the heels of the recent arrival of Knight's first legacy-fund installment -- $20million -- Oregon officials announced they anticipate another "major gift" for the arena project. At today's groundbreaking, which is not open to the public, they will reveal who's behind it.